Leif Vollebekk’s New Song Features The String Duo From "Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe”

The Montreal artist’s new album Twin Solitude is out February 24.

Before Leif Vollebekk shares his new album Twin Solitude on February 24, the Montreal musician is premiering his new song "Into The Ether" today with The FADER. The track features passionate Broken Social Scene-adjacent melodies wrapped in a casual, jammy atmosphere. Vollebekk sighs fragmented musings on the space between love and disappointment as Chargaux, the duo who played strings on Kendrick Lamar's "Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe," produce tense pulls of their bows.

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"Into the Ether was the first song we tried to record but it didn't come out right," Vollebekk told The FADER over email. "It was only when I went swimming one day that this very simple drum groove came into my mind and I knew what had been missing. I showed it to Olivier [Fairfield, Leif's drummer] and we played it right then and there, just the two of us in the studio. He was just a few feet away from me on the drums while I sang and played piano. It was all done in one take and it was the last thing we tracked for the record. I added some Moog bass and the strings are Chargaux. I just love their sense of time. I found out the violinist, Charlie, also had synesthesia and it was so easy to talk with her about music. At one point, I could just move my arms a certain way and they’d know just what to play. This song is the kind of song you might sing to yourself in a dream or perhaps in someone else's. I was thinking a lot about Freddie Mercury when we did this one."